Our lord: Holofernes is being addressed respectfully, as in 5.5, 20. Once again the address is in the third person due to respect, and will be translated this way in a number of languages. Good News Translation, though, uses the second person (see 5.20).

Hear a word: “Advice” is the content of the word the allies want him to heed. So Good News Translation has “if you will listen to our advice” (similarly Contemporary English Version).

Lest his army be defeated: Literally, this is “lest there be a break/fissure in his army.” The word translated “break” is not a common one. Though its meaning is obvious from its derivation, the word is not used often enough for its connotations to be known. In Lev 13 it is used repeatedly of the “itch” of the skin disease usually translated “leprosy.” The only other time it is used in the Greek Old Testament is at Jdt 13.5, where it refers to the “destruction” of Israel’s enemies. Translations of this word in 7.9 vary widely, but they fall into two groups. Some follow Revised Standard Version and say “so that your army will not be defeated” (New English Bible “crushing defeat”). Others interpret it to mean “so that your army will not suffer loss” (Good News Translation “not … heavy losses”; but Moore, New American Bible, and New Revised Standard Version “no losses”; and New Jerusalem Bible and Gonzáles and Alonso-Schöckel “not … a single wound”). Moore has a point in his discussion of the problem: the speakers knew very well what had happened to Achior when he suggested that Holofernes’ army could be defeated, so they were not likely to repeat that mistake. They would probably not even suggest the possibility of heavy losses. Moore, New American Bible, New Revised Standard Version, New Jerusalem Bible, and Gonzáles and Alonso-Schöckel are truer to context, and as we shall see, to the narrative logic. So this verse may be rendered “Heed what we say, lest there be a wound in your army.” Now consider the use of the word in Jdt 13.5. Since the noun is so rare, it is not out of order to suggest that the author is using the term here quite deliberately, and with a keen sense of irony. Judith uses the related verb in her prayer in 9.10 (“crush”), and in 13.5 the word occurs in her prayer just before she brings down the sword: “For now is the time … to carry out my undertaking for the destruction [break/fissure] of the enemies who have risen up against us.” Then she makes the “break/fissure”; she cuts Holofernes’ head off. There has been indeed a “break/fissure” in his army, just as prefigured in 7.9. If the translator can find a way to make a connection between 7.9 and 13.5, it would be a fine touch, but it will probably not be possible. Good News Translation can then serve here as a model.

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• Heed my advice, your excellency [or, sir], or many of your soldiers will be killed.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Judith. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.